Geological, Environmental, & Marine Sciences (GEMS)

GEMS Department News

Recent activity for graduates and current students: Our most recent graduates are now working for quite a few companies, non-profits, and government agencies and attending great graduate programs. Get the details from our alumni page.

GEMS 1967-2017: Fifty Years of Studying the Earth: Join the Department of Geological, Environmental, and Marine Sciences in celebrating its 50th Anniversary on Saturday, June 10, 2017 during Alumni Reunion Day. Contact Dr. Jonathan Husch or the Alumni Relations Office for details.

The Campaign for GEMS: Preparing for the Next 50 Years: To provide future generations of GEMS students with state-of-the-art 21st Century teaching and research facilities, we've launched a fundraising campaign. Help make this goal and vision a reality by contributing to the GEMS Lab Renovation Fund.

Joseph Edward Nadeau, dean emeritus of the College of Liberal Arts, Education, and Sciences and a member of the Rider community for more than 36 years, passed away on June 26, 2015 (more)

Rider in the Galapagos: Students and faculty from GEMS, as well as other departments, traveled to the Galapagos Islands during January 2014 to learn about their geology, ecology, environments, tourism industry, and culture. Learn more about the trip and why these kind of travel experiences are so valuable, educational, and memorable. (video)

Lock & Key: Ecologist Dan Hewins ’07 wants to delay climate change by keeping more carbon in the ground and out of the atmosphere (more)

Welcome to the web site of the Department of Geological, Environmental, and Marine Sciences (GEMS), which is celebrating its 50th Anniversary during 2017. Here you will find many details about our highly diverse and challenging curricula. To prepare our students for future Earth-related careers and graduate studies, the GEMS faculty continually re-evaluates GEMS programs to ensure they meet the needs of our students, the private companies or public agencies that may employ them, and the graduate or professional schools they may attend. In addition, the faculty encourages all students to conduct independent student research projects in order to gain valuable experience in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of scientific data. GEMS faculty also continue to improve and refine their technological and pedagogical expertise as new and sophisticated instrumentation and facilities are made available for both student and faculty use. The primary result of these on-going educational refinements and technological improvements is a highly-qualified and well-prepared GEMS graduate.

If you wish, check out Rider's Undergraduate Academic Catalog to learn about our innovative courses. Or, if you prefer, find out about the course requirements for our majors (and associated minors) in Environmental Studies, Environmental Sciences, Geosciences, Integrated Sciences and Math, Earth Sciences, and Marine Sciences, along with the outstanding credentials and research of our highly respected full-time and part-time GEMS faculty. If you wish, discover what exotic locations host our field marine sciences courses, where in the Rocky Mountains or Australia our geosciences majors travel for geology field camp experiences, or how you can spend a semester at the Galapagos Island Academic Institute for the Arts and Sciences (GAIAS) studying unique marine and terrestrial environments or Andean geology. You also can see what state-of-the-art equipment our GEMS students utilize on a regular basis and the exciting and scientifically important student research resulting from its use. In addition, catch up on all the latest GEMS news in the annual department newsletter, Surf and Turf, or find out about old friends and colleagues on our alumni page, which includes information on alumni activities and addresses. Finally, try out the many and varied web links to access a wealth of useful information, data, and job opportunities in the geological, environmental, and marine sciences.

In summary, this web site is your jumping off point for learning about, and keeping track of, the ever changing face of the geological, environmental, and marine sciences at Rider University. Please feel free to browse the GEMS pages in depth, utilize the information and links they contain, and to return many times in the future. If you require further assistance and/or wish to talk to a GEMS faculty or staff member, please call us at 609-896-5092, or write us at the Department of Geological, Environmental, and Marine Sciences (GEMS), Rider University, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648-3099.

The GEMS web site is maintained by Dr. Kathleen Browne. Please direct all questions and concerns about this site to Dr. Browne at [email protected] or 609-895-5408.

Dr. Kathleen M. Browne (GEMS Chair) received her Ph.D. from the University of Miami in 1993 and currently holds the rank of Associate Professor of Geological and Marine Sciences. Kathy was appointed GEMS Chair in 2017. Her Ph.D. thesis investigated the processes controlling the formation of lamination in Bahamian cyanobacterial mats and mounds known as stromatolites. Kathy's research interests focus on the interaction of sedimentological, biological, and chemical processes producing cyanobacterial mats in subtropical, carbonate environments in the Bahamas and Australia.